[新闻]HSCT - All-night rescue sees hikers return on their own

Multiple rescue agencies spent the night in the North Shore backcountry looking for a pair of hikers who became lost Monday afternoon.

Twelve South Korean hikers were planning to hike to the Lions on the challenging Howe Sound Crest trail Monday morning but two members hiked ahead of the pack and became separated.

When the rest of the group made it back to the Cypress Bowl parking lot, they realized their compatriots were nowhere to be found and called 9-1-1. The dispatch roused four full search teams and mutual aid from North Shore Rescue, Coquitlam Search and Rescue, Ridge Meadows and Lions Bay Search Rescue.

Not long after one crew of volunteers returned to the rescue staging area at the Cypress Bowl search and rescue station and another team headed in, the missing pair made their way out of the woods in Lions Bay - tired but uninjured.

"It's really steep in there and we've had a lot of injuries so we consider them the lucky ones," said Mike Danks, North Shore Rescue team leader.

The hikers weren't adequately prepared even for a more gentle hike, according to Const. Jeff Palmer, West Vancouver police spokesman. "They had no light. They had no cellphone. They just had light, summer clothing."

The group, all Korean post-graduate students visiting Vancouver, were scheduled to fly home Monday night. "It was really poor planning. The hike was at least a six-hour outbound and six-hour return and they had a flight back to Korea last night," Palmer said. "Presumably, they've got a new flight to book."

This is the second time this summer North Shore Rescue members have conducted an all-night search effort only to have the rescue subjects make their way out on their own. In late July, 16 volunteers spent the night searching for missing hikers who made their way back to Grouse Mountain after becoming lost in the steep, dangerous terrain of Crown Creek.

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